Probably black/white- I have a lot of fond memories of crystal, but the fact that it was before the physical/special split is kinda a bummer- though I admit I haven't played the 2nd gen remakes. Skipped 3rd gen, first gen was wonderful for starting the franchise but broken in a lot of ways. That leaves gen IV and V, and my god, after playing V I could never go back to IV. The battles are so slow by comparison. Black and White may not have revolutionized the franchise, but they are, I think, far and away the most polished entries I've played.

Though the 4th gen Pokemon league was rad. That Cynthia fight is how you end a Pokemon game right.

Sapphire, I just can't look at the 4th generation pokemon without asking myself "wtf is that?" They just look so random from that point on. And sure there a lot more important factors to consider in which game was your favorite, but to me, the weird pokemon are just a complete dealbreaker to the point that I wouldn't even consider the games. I can't get immersed if I'm constantly looking at them and instead of thinking "oh wow, that's creative" i'm telling myself "is that supposed to be abstract" every single time.

Yellow. Then again, I never touched another Pokemon game after Silver/Gold so my choices are a bit limited. Not even sure why I stopped playing to be honest. I never really felt like I "outgrew" the series or anything. I guess I just never got around to it. Meh.

Fire Red/Leaf Green combined the improved mechanics and art of the later games with the best pokemon in the series. Gold an Silver were pretty good too. i never played the DS ones because I never owned a DS.

Silver is my favorite. Generation 2 evolved the mechanics of earlier games in a lot of cool ways, and getting to go back and explore the previous region and face off against Red was really cool to me.

This guy has it right, IMO. I grow less and less fond of the Pokemon designs with each passing generation, and Silver hit the sweet spot between having all the Pokemon I loved while still adding some new ones. I didn't particularly care for any of the ones after that, but they're not bad by any means. Just different and feel even slower.

I can't quite even remember what the differences between them where anymore. I followed the series up till I think... Crystal? Whichever one it was that introduced the option to play as a girl. I enjoyed 'em all a lot way back when, though.

I can't quite even remember what the differences between them where anymore. I followed the series up till I think... Crystal? Whichever one it was that introduced the option to play as a girl. I enjoyed 'em all a lot way back when, though.

yeah I believe it was Crystal that let you choose between playing as a boy or girl

Black/White is probably my favorite to actually play, but Red/Blue will always hold a special place.

I've never quite understood the love for Gold/Silver. It's a fine game, but I didn't think it was as outstanding as some people make it out to be. But maybe it's just my experience with the original and the time in which I played it. It was right when I was starting burn out on Pokemon (after burning white hot from the moment I played Blue), so I left the game with mixed feelings.